Friday, October 7, 2016

South African protesters clash with police turned violent as police fired stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas at stone-throwing students. Universities say they cannot make further compromise on the tuition as last year’s fee freeze has put their finances under great strain. Universities student leaders have pledged to continue protests against tuition fees as university students protest turns violent.

"I owe the university close to 70,000 rand ($5,000) in tuition as it stands. Even if you don't protest, at the end of the year the university is still going to send you a letter to say: 'look you haven't paid for two years, you have to leave," said a second-year education student at Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).

Protests have hit more than half of South Africa’s universities in recent weeks. Major South African universities suspended classes this week and others are shutting down.

The protests came after President Jacob Zuma's government said it would continue subsidising university costs for the poorest students but could not afford free education for all.

The family income cut-off for financial aid for three household income is 160,000 rand or less.

Statistics South Africa data shows that university fees have soared by 80 percent since 2008, leading to the initial protests in 2015 that forced President Zuma to scrap proposed increases for 2016.

The Treasury allocated nearly 300 billion rand to education this year, 20 percent of the budget and almost double spending on health.